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Category Archives: e-learning

It is a tough getting a job done from your spouse. Only ‘To do’ list does not help, but you have to tell what has to be done, when, how, and under which conditions!

Storyline is the spouse we all dream of!

It takes commands exactly in the order of ‘what you want to do’, ‘when you want it to happen’, and ‘under what conditions you want an action to be done’.

Here is what I want Storyline 2 to do for me today:

What: force the learner to attempt a question only once

When: at the end of a scene or the course

Condition: allow the learner to revisit the question without enabling it

The exact problem lies in intentionally disabling and enabling the NEXT button after the necessary conditions are met. In this tutorial, I will be using the T/F variable to fulfill my purpose.

Triggers need to be set such that the variable-True meets the condition that when the SUBMIT button is in its visited state, the NEXT button is enabled.

Let us begin!

Disable the NEXT button

After creating the question and content slides, you must first disable the NEXT button. To disable it, create a trigger:

Decide the condition

There are many conditions that you can define on how you want your interactivity to be executed. These range from having an audio or a video clip play to completion or by having visited a number of objects on screen. For this tutorial, I want the NEXT button to be enabled after the state of the SUBMIT button is Visited.

Create the Variable

To define the variable, click on the (x) symbol in the top right corner of the trigger panel.

Conditions to state changes

I have set the variable for this slide ‘Question1’ with a ‘False’ default value. You have the liberty to change it to ‘True’. Now, I have to condition it such that when the variable changes to ‘True’ the state of the NEXT button must be normal. For this, create a new trigger as such:

This trigger is telling NEXT button to go back to its Normal state when Question1 is set to True.

Set True and False in the variable

This is the most important step in conditioning the NEXT button. This is where Visited states come into action. In this tutorial, Question1 goes from False to True when the SUBMIT button is in Visited state. To set this condition on the variable, create the following triggers:

Are you struggling to come up with your first branched scenario? Is it mundane to read about the difference between ‘Gamification’ and ‘Game-based learning’? Do you become an eLearning Nazi when people around you use the two terms interchangeably?

Yeah! Then you are doing instructional design the correct way!

This means that you are upbeat with the latest trends; you have the constant urge to learn new things. You are obsessed about the terms and their meanings. And most importantly, you have a constant yearning to learn and make new stuff!

The art of making stuff is not just a point sitting in our job description eternally, but it also is the very reason and motif of our designation.

The stuff that we make is courses, info-graphics, games, micro learnings, infomercials, simulations and so on! For which we have instant access to a plethora of ‘how to’ data on the internet. But what these videos/tutorial/ articles/ discussions don’t have is the emphasis on the importance of actually making stuff! What I mean is that once you have read and seen everything about branched scenarios, you cannot develop a masterpiece immediately. The bottom line is that the practice of consistently making and releasing projects makes all the difference in your ability as an Instructional Designer. Having said that here are three reasons why I think you should take ‘making’ seriously in our field:

Because creativity comes from practice

‘Wait for inspiration’ is closely associated with creativity. And inspiration is regarded as a shooting star that makes you wait to get anything done until it shows up! Well, it turns out that this is a myth. And it is dead wrong!

Creativity is showing up and making things consistently!

Because you can practice on the job

Any tool, technique, or design trend you learn takes time and practice to master. You have to figure out what works, observe, and implement. At work, we have the opportunity to work on projects after projects. Look at it as a chance to experiment the acquired knowledge and expand your horizons.

Practice is implementing the learnt changes in your day to day work!

Because you can afford to fail

Let me remind you one fact, “You have the freedom to rehash all the stuff you made in a safe environment.” Although spending time on novel options only to fail is not an option for many of us. We can certainly record our failure on one technology and apply it on a new one!